HG 

UC-NRLF 


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Addresses 
L#    G.   Hob ins on 


^^^inLib,  AGRIC.  DlPT. 


lAGRICULTUHAi 
LiBRARY, 


- — or — 
CALIFORNIA, 


THE  NEED  OF  NEW  BLOOD  IN  SOUTHERN  AGRICULTURE 


THE   PIONEER  CO-OPERATIVE  CREDIT  ASSOCIATIONS 
IN  THE  UNITED    STATES 


CO-OPERATION  AS  A  TRAINING  SCHOOL  IN   BUSINESS 
METHODS 


ADDRESSES 


LEONARD  G.  ROBINSON 


Delivered  before  the  Conference  for  Education 
in  the  South 


Richmond,  Va.,  April  16-18,  1913 


\ 


Maiti  Lib. 

Ai:ri::     i;.  - 


THE  NEED  OF  NEW  BLOOD  IN  SOUTHERN 
AGRICULTURE. 


The  law  of  variation  has  long  been  a  recognized  principle  in 
farming.  Every  farmer  knows  the  effects  of  animal  inbreeding. 
Every  farmer  knows  the  consequences  of  plant  inbreeding.  In 
considering  the  reasons  for  the  bankruptcy  of  farming  and  the 
sterility  of  farm  life,  has  it  never  occurred  to  you  that  possibly 
agriculture  is  suffering  from  the  lack  of  variation  in  its  most 
vital  element — the  human  element — in  other  words,  from  the 
lack  of  new  blood? 

Tfhe  city  gets  its  new  blood  by  accessions  from  the  country, 
and  it  is  a  fact  that  many  of  the  most  successful  men  in  the 
city  are  country  bred.  The  country,  on  the  other  hand,  not  only 
gets  little  new  blood  from  the  outside,  but  sends  to  the  city 
thousands  of  its  fittest  sons,  and  daughters,  as  its  annual  tribute 
to  industrial  progress.  The  result  is  stagnation  in  the  country 
population.  What  farming  therefore  needs  is  a  constant  acces- 
sion of  new  blood  or,  if  I  may  so  term  it,  temperamental  hybridiz- 
ation. This  is  true  not  alone  of  the  South  but  of  farming  the 
world  over. 

Dr.  Coulter  has  shown  how  wofully  laggard  the  South  has 
been  in  the  march  of  agricultural  progress.  Unquestionably 
Southern  farming  would  profit  very  much  by  the  adoption  of 
better  and  more  scientific  farming  and  business  methods.  But 
what  the  South  needs  most  is  men.  It  needs  the  thoroughgoing 
German.  It  needs  the  stolid  Slav.  It  needs  the  impressionable 
Italian.  It  needs  the  nimble-witted  Hebrew.  It  needs  the 
native  born  Western  farmer  who  is  flocking  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  across  our  Northern  border.  The  South  needs 
them  to  develop  its  vast  untouched  natural  resources.  The 
South  needs  them  to  reclaim  its  swamps  and  deserts.  The 
South  needs  them  to  constitute  its  body  politic  of  home-owning 
independent  farmers — the  anchorage  in  every  crisis  of  state  and 
nation.  You  may  not  want  all  of  them.  You  may  have  your 
preferences  as  to  nationality.     But  heaven  knows  you  need  them. 

No  section  of  this  great  land  of  ours  can  surpass  the  South 
for  natural  advantages.  No  section  can  beat  the  South  for  soil 
or  climate.     No  section  has  so  many  inducements  for  the  thrifty 


272652 


land-hungry  homeseeker.  But  there  are  conditions  in  the  South 
that  call  for  change,  evils  that  must  be  remedied,  before  settlers 
in  appreciable  numbers  can  be  expected  to  cast  their  lot  with  it. 

I  do  not  think  it  at  all  necessary  for  me  to  add  to  the  discus- 
sion of  the  conditions  that  have  retarded  the  growth  of  the  South 
in  general  and  the  agricultural  South  in  particular.  The  pre- 
ceding speakers — most  of  them  native  sons — have  drawn  up  a 
staggering  number  of  indictments  against  the  South  they  so  love, 
as  only  native  sons  can  do.  Health  conditions  are  bad.  Edu- 
cational facilities  are  poor.  Farming  methods  are  slipshod. 
Credit  facilities  are  inadequate.  The  tenancy  evil  is  increasing 
from  year  to  year.  All  this  is  true.  But  the  fact  that  these 
evils  are  recognized  is  in  itself  a  good  sign. 

But  there  is  one  evil  that  has  not  been  touched  on  so  far 
— an  evil  in  comparison  with  which  the  array  of  those  already 
mentioned  sinks  into  insignificance ;  an  evil  that  is  doing  more 
to  retard  the  growth  of  the  South  commercially,  industrially,  and 
agriculturally,  and  to  bring  the  fair  name  of  the  South  into  dis- 
repute, than  all  the  others  taken  together.  I  have  reference  to 
the  rampant  land  speculation. 

Nearly  every  important  city  in  the  North  is  infested  with 
land  companies  with  high  sounding  names,  having  southern  land 
for  sale.  The  papers  are  filled  with  their  advertisements  and 
the  mails  with  their  lurid  literature.  Some  of  these  lands  are 
actually  under  water  and,  by  all  the  rules  of  the  game,  should  be 
sold  by  the  gallon  instead  of  by  the  acre.  Some  of  these  lands 
have  been  cut  up  into  five  and  ten  acre  farms  which  are  sold  at 
from  ten  to  twenty  times  their  real  value  and  on  impossible 
terms.  The  land  in  many  instances  is  so  poor  that  even  the 
Angel  Gabriel  with  his  trumpet  could  not  raise  anything  from  it, 
and  there  is  no  possible  chance  of  the  purchasers  ever  making 
a  living  on  it.  I  -have  known  of  poor  people  who  invested  their 
life-long  savings  in  Southern  farms  and  returned  to  New  York 
cursing  the  South  and  warning  others  away  from  it. 

These  land  sharks  have,  in  many  instances,  become  so  bold 
as  not  to  hesitate  at  flirting  with  the  criminal  law,  relying  upon 
the  ignorance  and  helplessness  of  their  victims  for  immunity 
from  prosecution.  So  palpably  fraudulent  were  the  claims  of 
some  of  them  that  I  was  instrumental  in  having  their  advertise- 
ments rejected  by  some  of  the  New  York  papers.  When  a  New 
York  paper  turns  down  a  valuable  advertising  contract  you 
can  just  gamble  that  there  must  be  good  ground  for  it.  The 
South  must  first  of  all  rid  itself  of  the  incubus  of  exploitation  by 
men  who  care  as  much  for  the  fair  name  of  the  South  as  they 
care  for  the  fair  name  of  the  South  Pole. 


Dr.  Bourland,  when  he  asked  me  to  speak  to  you,  laid  much 
stress  on  the  fact  that  what  was  wanted  was  a  concrete  proposi- 
tion.    I  will  give  you  five. 

1.  Let  each  State  pass  strict  Blue  Sky  Laws,  providing  for 
the  inspection,  rating  and  certification  of  all  lands  for  sale  within 
its  borders.  No  honest  land  owner,  no  honest  land  agent,  no 
honest  land  speculator  need  have  any  fear  of  such  a  law.  But 
it  will  put  the  crook  out  of  business. 

2.  Let  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  or  other  public  spirited 
bodies  of  men  in  each  town  organize  agricultural  and  immigra- 
tion committees.  Let  it  be  the  business  of  those  committees  to 
take  in  hand  any  sti'anger  who  may  wish  to  locate  in  their  vicinity 
and  see  to  it  that  he  gets  a  square  deal  and  that  he  is  suitably 
located. 

3.  Let  these  committees  go  a  step  further  and  acquire  suit- 
able tracts  of  land  in  their  immediate  vicinity,  improve  them, 
divide  them  up  into  ready  made  farms  of  suitable  size,  and  sell 
them  to  desirable  settlers  at  cost  and  on  easy  terms  of  repay- 
ment. I  understand  that  Natchez  and  Charleston  have  done,  or 
are  trying  to  do,  something  in  this  direction. 

4.  Let  these  local  committees  in  each  State  be  federated 
into  central  committees.  Let  it  be  the  business  of  these  central 
committees  to  attend  to  the  publicity  work,  and  to  have  agents 
in  all  important  cities  and  ports  of  entry  to  furnish  the  right 
informaion  and  proper  direction  to  desirable  homeseekers. 

5.  There  should  be  closer  and  more  intelligent  co-operation 
between  all  organizations  working  in  the  South.  There  is  too 
much  dissipation  of  energy  and  altogether  too  little  co-ordination 
of  effort.  The  National  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  State 
Departments,  the  colleges,  the  experiment  stations,  the  rail- 
roads, and  other  bodies  are  just  pulling  apart,  overlapping  or 
interfering  with  one  another.     There  should  be  more  team  work. 

The  Southern  States  have  a  tremendous  advantage  agricul- 
turally over  many  States  of  the  Union.  They  are  blessed  with  an 
abundance  of  sunshine  and  most  of  them  with  a  generous  rainfall. 
The  long  growing  season  is  almost  an  insurance  policy  against 
total  crop  failures.  The  climate  renders  the  question  of  housing 
for  man  and  beast  a  comparatively  easy  one.  The  initial  capital 
required  by  the  would-be  farmer  to  establish  himself  on  a  farm 
in  the  South  is  therefore  about  one-half,  or  at  most  two-thirds, 
of  that  required  in  the  more  northerly  States. 

The  South  has  the  soil.     The  South  has  the  climate.     All  it 
needs  is  men.    You  can  get  them  if  you  reach  out  for  them. 


THE    PIONEER     CO-OPERATIVE     CREDIT     ASSOCIA- 
TIONS IN  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


Last  year  a  poor  Hebrew  immigrant — let  us  call  him  X — 
bought  a  small  farm  in  Nassau,  Rensselaer  County,  New  York. 
Ten  years  in  a  sweat  shop  impaired  his  health,  and  he  was 
advised  by  his  physician  to  live  in  the  country.  By  dint  of 
pinching  economy  and  the  contributions  of  his  wage  earning 
children  to  the  common  purse,  he  saved  up  the  princely  sum  of 
$1000.  The  farm  he  bought  cost  $3000.  He  paid  down  his 
$1000  and  gave  the  vendor  a  first  mortgage  for  the  balance  of 
$2000  at  six  per  cent.  With  a  bare  farm  on  his  hands  he  turned 
to  the  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid  Society  of  New 
York.  From  that  Society  he  received  a  loan  of  $1000  to  equip 
his  farm. 

Everything  seemed  to  go  along  fairly  well.  But  in  the 
spring,  when  in  the  midst  of  his  plowing,  X  lost  one  of  his 
horses.  His  first  thought  was  of  the  Aid  Society.  But  time 
was  very  valuable  and  every  day  counted  just  then.  He  there- 
fore went  to  Y,  from  whom  he  bought  his  first  team.  Yes,  he 
would  be  glad  to  sell  him  a  horse,  but  he  must  have  at  least 
half  cash.  X  then  turned  to  Z,  who,  he  knew,  loaned  money 
occasionally  to  the  farmers  in  the  neighborhood.  Z  could  let 
him  have  $50  for  three  months  provided  he  signed  a  note  for 
$75  at  six  per  cent.  X  had  no  alternative.  He  took  the  $50 
and  bought  a  horse  for  $100,  giving  a  note  for  the  balance  of 
$50  for  three  months,  also  at  six  per  cent.  It  therefore  cost 
X  $26.88  for  the  use  of  $100  for  three  months,  or  at  the  rate  of 
107^  per  cent,  per  annum. 

The  following  spring  X  again  lost  a  horse.  He  saw  three 
or  four  of  his  neighbors  and  within  an  hour  he  obtained  a  loan 
of  $100,  for  which  he  paid  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent, 
per  annum,  or  $1.50  for  the  same  accommodation  for  which  he 
had  paid  $26.88  only  the  season  before. 

What  was  it  that  caused  this  extraordinary  change  in  this 
farmer's  ability  to  borrow?     The  answer  is  Co-operative  Credit. 

The  question  of  rural  credit  is  one  of  the  burning  questions 
of  the  day.  To  the  South  belongs  the  honor  of  focussing  the 
country's    attention    to   the    inadequate    credit    facilities    of    the 

4 


American  farmer.  The  agitation  was  set  in  motion  by  the 
Southern  Commercial  Congress  at  the  Nashville  ConferenciC 
just  a  year  ago.  Through  the  influence  of  President  Taft  the 
matter  was  taken  up  by  the  Governors  at  the  Richmond  Confer- 
ence in  December  which  wound  up  with  a  special  conference  at 
the  White  House.  Last  week  the  First  National  Conference  on 
Marketing  and  Farm  Credits  was  held  in  Chicago.  Today  the 
subject  is  again  discussed  here  in  Richmond,  and  next  week  an 
American  Commission,  with  representatives  from  nearly  every 
State,  will  sail  abroad  to  study  rural  credit  in  Europe.  There  is 
no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  all  this  agitation  will  eventually  bear 
fruit. 

While,  as  we  see,  much  is  being  said  and  written  on  the 
subject  and  the  agitation  is  growing,  you  may  be  interested  to 
learn  that  the  most  important  of  the  European  credit  systems — 
the  Raiffeisen  System — has  already  found  a  foothold  in  this 
country,  and  to  examine  how  it  works  out  in  actual  practice  on 
American  soil. 

However,  before  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  pioneer  co-operative  credit  associations  in  the 
United  States,  I  think  it  will  be  well  to  tell  you  something  about 
the  organization  that  is  responsible  for  their  introduction  into 
this  country.  It  will  surprise  many  of  you,  I  know,  to  learn  that 
the  Baron  de  Hirsch  Fund  had  been  making  mortgage  loans  to 
Jewish  farmers  as  early  as  1890.  In  1900  this  department  was 
turned  over  to  the  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid 
Society,  which  was  organized  for  that  purpose,  and  with  which 
I  have  the  honor  of  being  identified.  These  loans  are  secured 
by  mortgage  and  are  repayable  in  moderate  annual  instalments. 
The  interest  rate  is  4  per  cent.  It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the 
land  credit  system  of  our  Society  is  not  unlike  that  of  the  Credit 
Fonder  and  other  corporate  land  credit  institutions.  Although 
the  funds  of  the  Agricultural  Aid  Society  are  limited  to  a  stated 
annual  income  and  its  operations  are  confined  to  a  special  class 
of  immigrants,  its  work  has  been  far  from  insignificant.  Accord- 
ing to  its  report  for  1912,  it  bas  granted,  during  the  thirteen 
years  of  its  existence,  2568  loans  aggregating  $1,494,437.91. 
These  loans  were  made  to  2266  farmers  in  28  States  and  in 
Canada.  The  operations  of  our  Society  thus  embrace  a  much 
larger  territory  than  those  of  the  largest  land  credit  bank  in 
continental  Europe. 

The  need  of  short  time  personal  credit  by  the  American 
farmer  was  long  recognized  by  our  Society.  But  with  a  clien- 
tele scattered  over  the  entire  country  the  direct  extension  of 
personal  credit  was  not  feasible.     Accordingly,  as  early  as  1907 

5 


we  gave  serious  consideration  to  the  question  of  the  adoption 
of  one  of  the  European  co-operative  systems.  But  progress  w^as 
not  very  rapid.  The  wealth  of  literature  which  is  now  at  every- 
body's command  was  wanting  then  and  it  was  necessary  to  go 
to  original  sources  for  information.  It  was  not,  therefore,  until 
1909  that  we  were  prepared  to  attack  the  problem  with  some 
degree  of  confidence. 

By-Laws  were  drafted  and  an  educational  campaign  was 
inaugurated.  The  idea  of  co-operative  credit  was  seized  upon 
by  the  Jewish  farmers  with  avidity,  and  several  farming  com- 
munities set  to  work  to  raise  funds  for  the  organization  of  credit 
associations.  But  before  our  plans  could  be  put  into  operation 
many  obstacles  had  to  be  overcome.  Chief  among  them  was 
the  absence  of  legislation  under  which  these  credit  unions,  as  we 
call  them,  could  be  incorporated.  Finally,  seeing  that  nothing 
could  be  gained  from  further  delay,  it  was  decided  to  proceed 
with  their  organization  as  unincorporated  or  voluntary  associa- 
tions. 

As  indicated,  the  form  of  organization  of  these  credit  unions 
is  similar  to  that  of  the  Raiffeisen  banks — after  which  most 
co-operative  credit  institutions  the  world  over  are  patterned — 
in  so  far  as  that  system  could  be  adaoted  to  American  condi- 
tions and  to  the  peculiar  needs  of  the  situation. 

We  have  today  seventeen  thriving  credit  unions — ^the  first, 
and  so  far  the  only  co-operative  agricultural  credit  banks  on 
American  soil.  Eight  of  them  are  in  New  York,  five  in  New 
Jersey,  and  four  in  Connecticut.  Three  were  organized  in  191 1. 
five  more  in  1912,  and  nine  more  this  year.  I  am  sorry  that  the 
reports  from  these  credit  unions  for  the  first  quarter  of  the  cur- 
rent year  are  not  yet  in,  I  am  therefore  unable  to  give  you  an  up- 
todate  statement  of  their  operations.  But  the  eight  credit  unions 
doing  business  last  year  reported  on  December  31st  a  total  mem- 
bership of  251.  Their  outstanding  shares  ($5  each)  were  865. 
They  had  then  been  in  operation  for  a  period  averaging  thirteen 
months,  during  which  time  they  made  411  loans  aggregating 
$28,140,  nearly  seven  times  their  share  capital.  Their  net  profits 
for  this  period  amounted  to  $545.48,  or  at  the  rate  of  about  12^ 
per  cent,  per  annum  on  that  capital. 

One  of  the  most  marked  benefits  resulting  from  these  credit 
unions  is  the  virtual  stamping  out  of  usury  in  the  communities 
in  which  they  exist.  The  farmer  finding  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 
a  moderate  loan  for  productive  purposes  quickly  and  cheaply, 
no  longer  has  to  depend  upon  the  generosity  of  the  neighbors, 
the  forbearance  of  the  local  storekeepers,  or  the  cupidity  of  the 
usurer. 

6 


However,  not  the  least  important  is  the  moral  and  educational 
value  of  these  credit  unions.  They  teach  their  members  busi- 
ness methods  and  self-government.  They  imbue  them  with  self- 
reliance  and  self-respect.  They  endow  them  with  a  high  sense 
of  mutual  responsibility,  stimulate  them  to  further  efforts  in  the 
direction  of  co-operation  and  mutual  self-help,  and  make  them 
better  farmers  and  better  citizens. 

There  is  nothing  mysterious  or  mystifying  about  co-opera- 
tive credit  except,  perhaps,  to  bankers.  It  is  the  simplest  form 
of  co-operation  and  any  man  with  a  modicum  of  horse  sense  and 
a  smattering  of  bookkeeping  is  fully  capable  of  looking  after  the 
affairs  of  a  credit  union.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  operations  of 
a  credit  union  are  much  less  intricate  than  the  daily  operations 
of  the  average  farmer.  But  credit  unions  will  not  create  them- 
selves. We  may  study  and  investigate,  educate  and  legislate 
from  now^  on  until  the  last  trumpet  call  and  unless  we  get  right 
down  and  do  it,  we  will  only  awake  to  find  that  we  cannot  get 
enough  credit  to  pay  for  our  halos. 

The  only  way  to  establish  co-operative  credit  is  to  establish 
it. 


CO-OPERATION  AS  A  TRAINING  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS 

METHODS. 


Perhaps  the  most  striking  American  characteristic  is  a 
highly  developed  individualism.  This  has  often  led  to  the 
erroneous  conclusion  that  the  average  American  is  constitution- 
ally incapacitated  for  co-operative  endeavor.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  co-operation  is  at  the  very  foundation  of  our  national 
existence.  Our  government  is  the  most  gigantic  co-operative 
enterprise  since  the  Tower  of  Babel  and  the  most  successful 
ever  undertaken  by  man.  Our  civic  affairs  are  purely  co-opera- 
tive. Our  religious  life  is  equally  so.  Is  it  not  somwhat  re- 
markable that,  while  we  have  been  able  to  teach  the  world  a 
thing  or  two  in  political,  civic  and  religious  co-operation,  we 
should  have  to  look  to  others  for  inspiration  and  guidance  in 
economic  co-operation? 

At  the  same  time,  it  would  be  a  grave  mistake  to  take  it  for 
granted  that  our  country  is  destitute  of  economic  co-operation. 
Our  railroads,  our  great  manufacturing,  commercial  and  financial 
establishments,  in  fact  all  corporate  enterprises  great  and  small, 
are  in  a  large  sense  co-operative  enterprises.  You  may  not 
know  it ;  you  may  not  recognize  them  as  such ;  you  may  have  a 
closer  acquaintance  with  them  as  trusts  or  combinations  en- 
gaged in  the  reasonable  or  unreasonable  restraint  of  trade ; 
you  may  call  them  monopolies ;  the  fact  nevertheless  remains 
that  the  fundamental  principles  upon  which  these  rest  is  co- 
operation. 

Where  then  is  the  difference — for  there  is  a  vast  difference 
— between  a  corporate  enterprise  and  a  purely  co-operative  en- 
terprise? The  difference  is  this.  In  co-operation  the  human 
element  is  the  controlling  element.  As  a  consequence  there  is 
absolute  equality  among  the  co-operators ;  equality  of  represen- 
tation ;  equality  of  control ;  and  equality  of  opportunity.  In  a 
corporation,  on  the  other  hand,  the  controlling  element  is 
capital.  It  is  not  one  man  one  vote  but  one-hundred  dollar 
bill  one  vote  or  one  share  of  stock  one  vote.  The  result  is 
that  the  man  who  is  able  to  acquire  a  sufficient  number  of  shares 
thus  acquires  control  of  the  corporation,  as  it  sometimes  hap- 
pens, even  to  the  detriment  of  the  interests  of  his  fellow  co-op- 
erator?. Co-operatively  speaking,  therefore,  a  corporation  is  on 
the  right  track  but  it  is  going  the  wrong  way. 

8 


It  is  frequently  said  that  this  is  the  age  of  combination. 
Every  form  of  industry  and  every  form  of  business  has  found 
it  advisable  and  profitable  to  organize  and  combine  for  greater 
efficiency.  Farming  alone  stands  disjointed  and  unorganized. 
The  trouble  is  that  farming  has  not  yet  been  universally  recog- 
nized as  a  business.  While  considerable  attention  is  given  to 
the  art  of  farming  and  to  the  science  of  farming  none  is  given 
to  the  business  of  farming.  Too  much  emphasis  is  laid  on  pro- 
duction and  too  little  on  distribution.  We  have  made  great 
strides  in  the  development  of  the  manufacturing  end  of  farming 
but  we  are  practically  at  a  standstill  in  so  far  as  the  financial 
end  of  farming  is  concerned.  Small  wonder,  then,  that  the 
farmer  does  not  get  a  fair  return  for  the  capital  and  labor  in- 
vested. What  farming,  therefore,  needs,  is  the  adoption  of  busi- 
ness methods — methods  that  have  been  tried  and  found  suc- 
cessful in  other  enterprises. 

However,  in  farming,  concentration  of  production  is  not  pos- 
sible. With  production  scattered  over  a  large  area  and  among 
numerous  producers,  combination  in  farming  on  the  lines  adopted 
by  industrial  and  commercial  enterprises  is  not  practicable. 
The  only  form  of  combination  possible  in  farming  is  co-opera- 
tion. It  is  true  that  we  have  so  far  made  little  progress  in  agri- 
cultural co-operation.  But  human  progress  is  rarely  achieved 
except  under  the  spur  of  necessity.  Nature  has  been  very 
prodigal  with  us  and  we  in  turn  have  been  prodigal  with  nature. 
However,  agricultural  conditions  are  changing  very  rapidly  and 
with  it  must  come  greater  business  efficiency  which,  as  I  have 
already  indicated,  depends  in  a  great  measure  on  co-operation. 

Now,  to  show  you  what  a  good  tutor  necessity  is  and  how 
much  we  can  accomplish  if  we  only  have  to,  let  us  see  how  a 
class  of  farmers  handicapped  at  the  outset  by  ignorance  of  the 
very  rudiments  of  farming,  by  lack  of  funds,  and  what  not,  have 
progressed  in  the  direction  of  co-operation  and  have  evolved 
what  is  doubtless  the  most  comprehensive  system,  or  rather 
systems,  of  agricultural  co-operation  on  American  soil. 

Co-operation  among  the  Jewish  farmers  in  the  United  States 
was  set  afoot  as  a  result  of  the  educational  or,  to  use  an  objec- 
tionable phrase,  ''uplift  work,"  inaugurated  by  the  Jewish  Agri- 
cultural Society  of  New  York  in  1907.  The  first  step  under- 
taken by  this  Society  was  the  organization  of  the  scattered  farm- 
ing communities  into  local  associations  largely  for  religious, 
educational  and  social  purposes.  This  frequent  getting  together 
of  the  farmers  and  the  holding  of  meetings  ushered  in  a  new 
era  among  those  who  found  themselves  strangers  in  what  was 
practically  a  strange  land  and  among  a  people  whose  language, 
customs  and  manners  they  did  not  understand. 

9 


In  the  course  of  their  gatherings,  they  naturally  discussed 
matters  of  common  interest  and,  as  was  to  be  expected,  the 
material  side  of  farming  received  considerable  attention.  Ef- 
forts at  co-operation  on  a  small  scale  were  made  with  more 
or  less  success.  But  small  groups  scattered  practically  all  over 
the  United  States  were  powerless  to  accomplish  very  much. 
Each  group  was  too  weak  to  attempt  by  itself  co-operative  work 
on  any  scale  successfully.     What  was  needed  was  united  eflPort. 

With  a  number  of  organizations  composed  of  men  of  the 
same  blood,  having  suffered  the  same  hardships,  possessing  the 
same  ideals,  with  interests  in  common,  and  the  same  problems 
to  solve,  it  was  but  a  natural  step  that  they  should  wish  to  get 
into  closer  relations  with  one  another.  This  resulted  in  the 
formation  of  the  Federation  of  Jewish  Farmers  of  America  in 
1909.  This  Federation,  which  now  has  a  membership  of  fifty- 
two  constituent  associations  in  the  United  States,  made  it  pos- 
sible for  the  small,  scattered  associations  to  undertake  collec- 
tively co-operative  work  which  would  have  been  otherwise  im- 
possible. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  this  central  organization  was  the 
establishment  of  a  purchasing  bureau  for  the  purchase  of 
seeds,  fertilizers,  implements  and  other  supplies  needed  by  the 
farmer.  In  addition  to  eflFecting  a  considerable  saving,  the 
farmers  dealing  with  this  bureau  are  certain  to  get  a  standard 
article.  Through  the  influence  of  the  Federation,  the  farmers 
also  receive  liberal  credit.  Last  year  the  sales  of  the  purchas- 
ing bureau  amounted  to  over  $50,000. 

The  next  step  was  the  organization  of  the  credit  unions,  the 
first  agricultural  credit  banks,  and  so  far  the  only  ones  in  exist- 
ence, in  the  United  States.  Although  this  is  the  simplest 
form  of  co-operation,  it  has  not  found  ready  acceptance  for  the 
reason  that  the  vv'ord  "banking"  is  something  the  average  man 
approaches  with  fear  and  trembling.  We  have  seventeen  of 
these  credit  unions  now  in  operation  with  a  membership  of 
2000  and  a  capital  of  about  $9000.  Eight  of  these  unions  are  in 
New  York,  five  in  New  Jersey,  and  four  in  Connecticut.  Our 
farmers  in  Sullivan  County,  New  York,  have  started  a  co-opera- 
tive fire  insurance  company  and  in  Hurleyville,  in  the  same 
County,  they  have  started  a  co-operative  creamery.  The 
Federation  is  planning  co-operative  markets,  and  so  on.  Co- 
operation once  started  and  proved  successful  grows  very  rapidly. 

Business  methods  are  a  condition  precedent  to  successful 
co-operation.  All  abortive  co-operative  enterprises  owe  their 
failure  to  the  inability  to  adopt,  or  to  the  wilful  disre.ijard  of, 
ordinarv    business    principles.     Since    in    true    co-operation    the 

10 


business  affairs  of  the  enterprise  are  not  relinquished  by  the 
co-operators,  co-operation  serves  the  purpose  of  training  the  co- 
operating farmer  in  business  methods. 

What  co-operation  has  done  in  the  way  of  giving  the  Jewish 
farmers  a  good  business  education  is  almost  unbelievable.  The 
frequent  meetings  and  conferences  have  taught  them  parliamen- 
tary procedure.  They  have  learned  to  fill  out  an  order  blank 
intelligently  and  to  carry  on  an  intelligent  correspondence  re- 
lating to  their  orders.  They  have  learned  to  study  catalogs  and 
to  order  from  catalog,  to  figure  out  interest  on  deferred  pay- 
ments and  discounts  for  cash.  They  have  learned  to  get  their 
chemicals  and  to  mix  their  own  fertilizers  at  a  great  saving  of 
money  and  with  better  results  to  their  crops.  Their  brief  ex- 
perience in  doing  some  of  their  own  banking  is  teaching  them 
the  keeping  of  simple  books ;  it  is  teaching  them  punctuality  in 
the  meeting  of  notes ;  it  is  teaching  them  the  sacredness  of  an 
obligation  and  the  seriousness  of  putting  their  name  to  paper. 
Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  thing  about  the  credit  unions  is 
that  instead  of  affecting  the  local  banks  adversely,  as  some  had 
feared,  they  have  stimulated  the  business  of  these  banks  by 
teaching  the  members  the  advantages  of  a  bank  account  and  the 
use  of  checks  in  their  business  transactions. 

But  the  material  benefits  of  co-operation  sink  into  insig- 
nificance when  considered  alongside  of  its  value  as  a  moral,  edu- 
cational, and  social  force  and  its  effect  upon  the  daily  life  of  the 
community. 

Sir  Horace  Plunkett  relates  how  co-operation  completely 
transformed  a  certain  village  in  Ireland.  The  village  was  noted 
for  the  shiftlessness  and  quarrelsomeness  of  its  inhabitants. 
The  men  were  hard  drinkers  and  hard  fighters ;  the  women  hard 
gossipers.  With  the  organization  of  a  co-operative  association, 
which  was  by  no  means  an  easy  task,  and  the  opportunity  of 
these  people  to  get  toge'ther  on  common  ground  and  to  discuss 
matters  of  common  interest,  there  was  a  complete  revolution. 
Neighbors  who  never  spoke  became  quite  neighborly.  After 
the  first  meeting  of  the  association  Fogarty  said  to  his  wife 
"Rooney  is  a  pretty  decent  fellow."  "Sure,"  replied  Mrs. 
Fogarty,  *'and  Mrs.  Rooney  is  a  very  fine  woman;  let  us  call  on 
them."  And  this  was  the  first  call  with  pacific  intentions  these 
neighbors  had  indulged  in,  although  they  were  born  and  brought 
up  in  that  village. 

Let  us  get  nearer  home.  A  certain  Jewish  farming  settle- 
ment in  Connecticut  seemed  to  have  an  obsession  for  litigation. 
Hardly  a  day  passed  but  that  one  farmer  did  not  have  a  warrant 
for   his   neighbor   for   slander,    trespass,   or   what    not.     Nearly 

11 


every  one  was  under  bonds  to  keep  the  peace.  The  local  Justice 
of  the  Peace  enjoyed  the  situation  not  so  much  for  itself  but 
for  the  income  it  brought  him.  The  first  thing  these  farmers 
did,  after  organizing  their  local  association,  was  to  appoint  a 
standing  arbitration  committee  for  the  settlement  of  all  disputes. 
Since  then  litigation  dwindled  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Justice 
had  to  take  up  insurance  as  a  side  line  in  order  to  make  a  living. 
Even  the  arbitration  committee  has  very  little  to  do. 

Those  of  you  who  have  had  any  connection  at  all  with 
co-operative  enterprises  can  doubtless  relate  similar  experiences. 

Co-operation  is  a  state  of  mind;  a  growth.  It  has  grown 
with  us.  We  approached  co-operation  not  only  with  respect  but 
with  trepidation.  But  before  we  were  aware  of  it  we  found  our- 
selves deep  down  and  up  to  the  neck.  It  was  a  case  of  sink  or 
swim.     You  see  we  have  managed  to  keep  afloat. 


12 


JOS.   JOSPE  a   CO.,   PRINTERS 

335    BROADWAY.     NEW    YORK  % 


272652 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  IvIBRARY 


